James Bush has been in the South Seas for a decade, ever since he quarreled with his father. But word comes the old man is dead, and Bush will collect the pile. He's not concerned about the money, but he is worried about Janet Chandler, and whether she will be cheated out of her rightful share; they pledged their troth before he left, and she and he have been corresponding since. So Bush starts back, along with best friend Onslow Stevens. There a shipwreck, and Bush is laid up, so he sends Stevens on ahead, with instruction to see that everything is on the up-and-up. He discovers there is some plot between his cousin, John Andrews, and the butler, Desmond Roberts. Also, he falls in love with Miss Chandler.
Yes, the butler did it, or part of it, and plans to keep on doing it. That doesn't disturb me, but Stevens is compelled to act in such a suspicious manner to indicate how flustered he is that it's a miracle that none of the characters except for Howard Lang's keen-eyed family lawyer notice anything odd.
It's not a terrible story, and everyone does a competent job of acting, even if all the threads are tied up so very quickly and neatly at the very end.